Summer Alone
by Ranko twin
Summary: one-shot; Akane can swim? Then why does she sink like a dead weight when she's in the water? Well, maybe a late night dip and a little confession time will answer that.


Ranma ½ doesn't belong to me, if it did I wouldn't be here right now

A/N: just a little one-shot that has been on my mind for a while

'It's almost summer vacation.' Akane Tendo thought, looking outside the window her seat was right next to. 'And I'll have to put up the same old act, just like I do every year, ever since that day. Once that bell rings no turning back.' Her gaze traveled along every face in the classroom 'They all think I'm some helpless little klutz that sinks like a dead weight, Ukyou gives me fake sympathy just because she doesn't want Ranma to think she's heartless, and Ranma, he always rescues me, but I wish he would stop treating me like a porcelain doll.'

The girl closed her eyes for a second and she could feel the cold, heavy thrashing, the rough salting taste in her mouth, and the feel of cold, lifeless hands losing their grip on hers, her eyes shot open once again and saw her shaky hand and tried to cover it. She looked up at the clock 'In 3…2…1…' the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. Everyone shot out of their seats like bullets and headed straight for the door, already discussing summer plans, excited that after summer break they would finally be seniors.

"Hey Akane, ready to go?" asked Ranma, who was towering over her desk. She noticed that she hasn't made any move to get up. She meekly nodded her head and got up to leave with Ranma.

The walk home was very quiet as they both walked on their normal spots, Ranma on the fence, Akane on the sidewalk. "So, um… A-Akane" Ranma said awkwardly breaking the silence, she looked up at him with curiosity "If your worried about it being summer and you not being able to swim, don't worry about it, it's no big deal."

Akane blinked in confusion 'Is Ranma actually saying something to me without sticking his foot in his mouth?' Akane nodded putting on a fake smile and said, "Thanks Ranma, that makes me feel better." She then looked down at her feet, hiding her anguish, as they walked the rest of the way home in silence.

"Welcome home." Both Kasumi and Nabiki greeted, as the two of them entered the front door, which was a first for Nabiki, since she usually stayed out the latest on the last day of school especially since this was the end of her senior year. "Nabiki? What are you doing home?" Akane questioned the older girl.

"Oh, no reason." She said, shrugging her shoulders "Just wanted to see my baby sisters face when she sees the gift me and Kasumi got for the whole family."

"What gift?" Ranma asked

Kasumi smiled sweetly at the two of them "Come and see." She replied, walking away, Nabiki following shortly after her. Ranma and Akane looked at each other and followed.

The two other sisters were waiting for them patiently on the porch, when the two confused teens got there and looked out into the backyard, their jaws pretty much hit the floor. Out in the backyard was a large built in pool that replaced the koi pond. "Why would you buy that?" Ranma asked

"Oh, we have our reasons Ranma." Kasumi said

"Yeah, maybe to go out for a late night dip." Nabiki said, winking at her younger sister

"Well it was a waste of money if you ask me, me and my pop change when we get wet, Mr. Tendo will only swim in shallow waters, Nabiki just wants to get a tan, I've never seen Kasumi even step one foot into the water, and you know that klutz can't swim." Ranma cried before he could stop himself, when he realized what he all said it was too late, he could feel a burning aura coming from behind him. Ranma slowly turned around and faced a very pissed Akane.

"Oh yeah Ranma? What ever happened to. 'It doesn't matter if you can swim or not.' Huh?" she said through clenched teeth, repeating what he had said earlier. Without another word she dashed up the stairs and they could all hear the loud slam of Akane's bedroom door.

Nabiki just shook her head and said "Nice going Saotome."

Later that night, Ranma has been sitting in his room thinking. 'I don't get it, it's not like I haven't called her a klutz before, what's the difference now?' he asked himself 'Then again she was acting pretty depressed in class today…' before he could finish that thought, he heard the sliding of the backyard door open then close again from his open window. He took a peek outside from his position on the desk that was seated right below the said window. He saw Akane in a short robe standing in front of the new pool, she untied the robe and let it fall down to her feet revealing a simple one piece, red bathing suit.

'What is she doing?' Ranma thought to himself, when he saw her step into the pool he was about ready to jump out the window and save her but stopped when he saw what she was doing. She was performing flawless swimming strokes and underwater handstands and flips. Ranma sat entranced by her appearance in the moonlight, he was under a spell and he didn't want it to be broken.

Then her foot slipped on the slick surface of the pool floor and she lost her balance, slipping into the water, thrashing like she normally does in water, she was taking in mouthfuls of water and she chokingly gasped out, "momma, momma." The spell Ranma was under was broken, he shot out the window and to the backyard, and he dived into the pool, turning into a girl, to get Akane.

She dragged the limp girl out of the water and lied her down onto the porch, the girl started to cough up water and soon her eyes fluttered open to stare up at the worried blue eyes of her fiancé "Ranma? What?" she said slowly sitting up "What happened?"

"You were swimming Akane. When did you learn to swim?" the red head asked.

Akane looked down at her still wet feet "A long time ago actually."

"Then why-" Ranma started but was cut off by Akane.

"Don't I ever swim?" she finished for the red head "It's a funny story, are you willing to hear it?" Akane asked, Ranma simply nodded.

"It happened ten years ago, my family went to the beaches in Osaka for summer break, we rented a tiny part of the beach and a small beach house to go with it, just enough to for all of us. One day I wanted to go swimming, but my mother told me that the waters were too rough, I begged and pleaded and eventually she gave in. We went out to the ocean and one of the heavy waves from farther back managed to pick me up and drag me out to deeper waters. My mother swam after me and a wave dragged her along too, she somehow managed to find me and grab hold of me. The waves tossed us around for a while and a long story short my mom hit her head on a rock...hard. The two of us somehow drifted back to shore, but mother died. My family took me to a hospital to see if I was hurt, a couple of bruises but it turned out I gained some trauma. For years I couldn't be in water without thrashing around like crazy and replaying that time in my mind. I got over it eventually but sometimes it comes back." She was in tears now.

Sometime during the story Ranma warmed himself up a kettle of hot water to change back into a boy. He held her in a tight embrace in his strong arms while she cried and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. "I don't want another summer alone Ranma, I don't." she cried into his shoulder.

"You're not going to be alone anymore, you have me here now, and I'm not going to leave you, no matter what."

Little did the two teens know that two pairs of eyes were watching them, smiling in approval "We have our reasons Ranma." Kasumi whispered, Nabiki nodded in agreement, before the two older sisters made there way up to there room giving the two teens privacy as they heard the sound of kissing.


End file.
